


man down

by Anonymous



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Character Study, Drabble, Harry Centric, M/M, idk either, ig??, implied ben/harry, lapslock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 13:01:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15461949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: harry hook learns about a lot of things on the isle; love is not one of them.





	man down

**Author's Note:**

> idk,,, ive recently watched both movies for the first time and i got a little obsessed and wrote this at 3 am one night 
> 
> i could’ve wrote more but i was like ,,, should i rlly?? and decided against it
> 
> prob ooc oops

there’s a lot of things harry hook learns growing up on the isle. he knows how to do his eyeliner, thanks to his sisters, and how defend himself, and eventually learns how to clean blood out of his clothes. he knows exactly how to smile at someone to let them get their guard down, and how to charm his way into someone’s pants. 

 

he learns a lot of things, but the one thing he doesn’t learn how to do is love. 

 

now, this isn’t exactly uncommon for kids living on the isle. their parents are cold, and shrewd, and heartless. they’re surrounded by filth and muck and cruelty their whole lives. so, love isn’t exactly something that exists on the isle. 

 

sure, he trusts uma and tolerates gil, respects his father through his fear and admires the feats of his sisters despite his annoyance and envy towards them. but love… love is unattainable. love is for the weak, rich kids on auradon who grew up with parents who cared and didn’t have to sleep around to fill the voids in their chests. 

 

harry doesn’t think he’ll ever experience love and comes to accept that as he grows older, sanity slipping away with his innocence. but he’s fine with that; what good is love and commitment when you can have anyone you want with no strings attached? 

 

——

 

king ben is quite frankly, kind of adorable. maybe it’s his persistence or the way he struggles against the ropes, or the way his cheeks flush when harry gets too close. the good in his heart is too cute, and harry can’t help but want to corrupt his sweet, pure, princely (well, kingly,) self. 

 

uma calls him a sick bastard when he voices this, but it’s not like she’s any better. harry’s seen the joy flash across her face whenever another’s blood spills due to her sword. (it’s not like harry’s innocent. he’s guilty of enjoying the sight of his opponent’s blood splattering on the floor. it gives him a fucked up type of gratification.) 

 

as they’re waiting for mal and her motley crew to ‘save the day,’ he looks up at ben with curiosity. 

 

“ey, little king, could’ya do me a small favor?” he drawls from his spot on the stairs on the deck, and ben scowls at the name, the same pretty pink flush spreading across his cheeks again. 

 

“don’t call me that,” he grits out, fists clenching by his sides, and harry lets out a small giggle.

 

“now, now, benny boy. no need to be all riled up, aye? your pretty little girlfriend and her pals’ll show up soon enough. i just have a small question for you,” he hums, polishing his hook with the tattered fabric at the seam of his shirt. 

 

ben’s fists unclench, and his scowl straightens out into a small frown. he tries very hard not to look at the exposed skin of harry’s abdomen as his shirt lifts up. adorable. “what do you want, harry?” he sounds exasperated, and harry can’t exactly blame him. he would be a little cranky if he was tied up for hours against an uncomfortable post, too. 

 

“you ever been in love before?” harry asks, casually, but the question rings heavy in the salty air. ben looks a little taken aback, and he stays silent for a little, before speaking again. 

 

“yeah,” he says, finally, but he looks a little unsure himself. “yeah, i have been.” he repeats again, squaring his shoulders. 

 

harry tilts his head up to look at the clouds. “how’s it feel?” he doesn’t know why he’s asking the man he’s holding captive about this. if uma were next to him right now, she’d cuff him upside the head and tell him to grow a pair. but, harry is a little curious. ben has grown up on auradon, after all, the land of happily-ever-afters. 

 

when he looks back down, ben is giving him a weird look, somewhere between pity and confusion, and it makes anger thrum in his veins. he didn’t need pity. 

 

“forget about it, your highness,” he almost snaps, lips pursing downwards. ben is frowning again, and he’s looking at harry like he’s trying to peek into his thoughts. harry looks back up into the clouds then, to get away from ben’s inquisitive gaze and the ball of unknown feelings curling in his gut. 

 

it’s silent for a few more moments before ben speaks again. “i didn’t mean to make you upset.” 

 

harry snorts, waving his hook around dismissively. “no one makes me upset,” he says smoothly. “i just don’t like being pitied.” 

 

ben opens his mouth to say something, then closes it. “um, love. it’s like.” he pauses, trying to get the right words, before talking again. “it’s warm, kind of? your thoughts are filled with the people you care about and you want them to be safe, and happy. sometimes, it sneaks up on you out of nowhere and punches you in the face and all you can think about is seeing that other person,” he stops again, looking embarrassed, and flushes down to his neck. 

 

for once, harry is kind of rendered speechless. he doesn’t have any snarky remarks to spit back and all he can say is, “sounds boring.” lying through his teeth is something he’s become particularly good at, just like tuning out the  _ tick-tick-ticking  _ that rings in in his ears during the dark of the night. 

 

ben looks like he wants to say something else, but he doesn’t. harry takes this moment to get up, and he walks past ben, tapping his hook on the other boy’s cheek. “only a few more minutes till noon, little king. better prepare yourself for a dip into the water, eh?” 

 

he’s only a little satisfied with the way ben’s cheeks heat up as he brushes past him, shoulders pressed against eachother. just a little. 

 

———

 

harry is understandably shocked when two men personally deliver him a letter inviting him to auradon. he swallows down the small feeling of happiness that seeps into his bones as he reads the words over and over and over again, and frowns. why the hell was he being invited to auradon? harry hasn’t exactly done anything that qualifies him to be redeemable. he kidnapped the god damn king, and has cheated and stole and fought his whole life. 

 

he’s about to tear up the letter when suddenly, a fancy scrawl at the bottom of the paper catches his eyes. 

 

“everyone deserves a shot at happiness,” it reads, and is signed by none other than king ben himself. he laughs, and laughs some more, before grinning up at the men manically. 

 

“when do we leave?”  

**Author's Note:**

> title taken loosely from “blow the man down” which is a sea shanty


End file.
